Gopati Saras (Water bodies of Chennai - 71)

The Karaneeswara temple in Saidapet boasts a large, well-maintained holy pond. Legend has it that the sage Vasishtha was given the divine cow Kamadhenu by Indra for religious rituals. However, when the cow caused trouble, the sage cursed it, and it turned wild. To absolve Kamadhenu's sin, Indra created a new pasture of land, established a Shiva Linga, and built a holy tank. Indra would perform daily poojas by dipping into the tank, and Shiva appeared to him, forgiving Kamadhenu's transgressions. The name "Karaneeswara" comes from the Tamil word "Kaar," meaning cloud, and the fact that Indra, the Lord of clouds and sky, installed the Shiva Linga. The tank is called Gopati Saras, with "Go" referring to Kamadhenu.

Happy travelling!

Note: As per a report, there were about 650+ waterbodies in the Chennai region till the 1980s. Today, only a fraction of them exist. Most of those surviving waterbodies hardly have water, and even some of them that have water had been poorly shrunk. In Chennai, there are tank roads without tanks nearby and lake-view roads without any lake in the vicinity. There is a high possibility that even the few water bodies we have today might vanish soon. I thought of visiting the currently surviving waterbodies of Chennai and its suburbs and write about them in my blog as a series.